THREE extra eye-catching evening shows have been added to the bill for this year’s Hat Fair.

Running in Winchester from Friday, July 6 to Sunday, July 8, organisers are putting on a big performance each night.

There will still be plenty of street theatre in the daytime as usual, but the 2012 event aims to offer something extra.

On the Friday evening, Dutch performers Close Act will bring their anarchic new show Invasion to the city’s streets.

Then on Saturday, French company Generik Vapeur will present their show, Waterlitz. Expect fireworks and eye-catching displays centred on a giant arrangement of shipping containers.

Breaking with tradition, there will also be an evening show on the final day. Previous Hat Fairs have usually ended with a picnic at Oram’s Arbour on Sunday afternoon. Instead, the same venue will be hosting Rime on Sunday evening by the Square Peg Circus, based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

It is a haunting tale of guilt, cruelty and the fate of the undead crew told by combining acrobatics, human towers, sea shanties and stories.

Hat Fair artistic director Kate Hazel said: “Giving the Hat Fair three big performance nights is a brave new step for us and one we’re very excited about. Each of these shows brings size, beauty, incredible skill and artistic talent, leading the Hat Fair on to what we hope will be bigger and better things in the years ahead.”

The event is funded by the Arts Council, ZEPA (European Zone of Artistic Projects), Winchester City Council and Winchester Business Improvement District.